Metal Reviews

Favorite bands aside, we all know that drummers like George Kollias, Derek Roddy, Tony Laureano, etc. etc. blow Paul from CC out of the water.

However, I feel that if not for the striking simplicity of Paul's drumming, and his lack of insanity that guys like the above and Inferno (my favorite drummer) exhibit, Cannibal Corpse wouldn't be as steady and brutal. I just feel that Paul is more cut to the chase and doesn't wail on his drums to sound good, he just accents the music to make it more violent.

I mentioned in my first CC review (my first classic, for TOTM) that the guitars fuel the band which is somewhat of a rarity in Death Metal, a genre in which the percussion runs the show.

So what are your opinions on the percussion of Cannibal Corpse??? Is the simplicity boring, or does it fan the fire???

CC is lucky to have a bassist as good as Webster. A generic bassist plus that mundane drumming would probably sink them.

What he said.

Listening to Eaten Back to life will show somewhat of a different drummer, as his fills are far more rapid and varied throughout the album. It is only afterward that Paul started to go downhill, as even Tomb of the Mutilated suffered from the constant "tap, tap, tap" formula. It's more or less something you get used too if your a fan, as constant comparisons to Mounier or Kolias (overrated) makes Paul look horrible..

He sounds like an actual drummer while Kolias and Inferno sound like their parts were programmed into a computer so that makes his drumming sound more intense imo

If you've seen Inferno live he's nothing short of an athlete, compared to Demigod nothing Paul has ever performed even matches that tempo.

That's too bad because in a recording like this all I hear are triggers that suck all the humanity, intensity, and subtelty out of his playing.

I can understand this criticism though after relistening to Vile, I prefer the relentless pounding from Zos Kias Cultus and Demigod. Even with the obvious overtriggering and the constant sounds, Paul really only has Eaten back to life and a gew good moments on their older albums

Yeah, this is why I hate triggers... at least the really obnoxious ones.

Also, that solo really isn't that interesting tbh. It's pretty much just "watch me play a blast beat several different ways."

I was thinking that someone might enjoy the human element to Paul's drumming versus the artificial sounding insanity to guys like Inferno. But I have to agree that Alex Webster is the backbone of that band and surely would screw them if he left.

The negatives of triggers really come out in drum solos (noticed it listening to The Arcande Order's In The Wake of Collision, I think the second song has a pretty goofy triggered drum solo) since it's hard to do anything interesting when you can't vary the volume of your bass kicks and snare at all. idk I'm pretty against them in general because being able to play retardedly fast doesn't seem like enough of a benefit for the cost of sucking all the life out of the drumming, although I'm sure there's some better done triggering jobs that I don't notice.

I don't mind kick triggers because I firmly believe that in Brutal Death Metal the kick should be the loudest drum in the kit. Snare triggers annoy the crap out of me though...